At the same time, down playing the need and suggesting we’ll soldier on is probably sensible as we don’t want to appear that desperate in negotiations.
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Not to mention had a large part of their new stadium project funded by a £100m+ loan from the public purse at mate’s rates, facilitated by the council led by, Joe Anderson.
Anderson’s currently bailed until February, along with four others, in connection to various city development projects, amid charges of bribery and witness intimidation.
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Nobody is asking for anything anywhere near the levels that Everton have done though. But our post Covid revenues probably still beat their pre Covid revenues so it’s pointless to try and deny the fact that we have options. Many of which would still fit under the category of cautious business. And for the record I still think someone will come in. All this seems very much in line with the sound bites over why Alisson couldn’t possibly happen and we would go with Ward and how Thiago would of course be a nice luxury but there really wasn’t anything concrete in it. The club are experts at conveying how broke they are to their chosen journalists by now and it frequently turns out to be nothing more than negotiating tactics like you hint in your other post.
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I do not believe that selling Shaq, Divok or Grujic for £8.50 and buying a CB who’s at best adequate is a bad idea.
We could be so badly fucked in a few weeks time that we’d shame Katie Price.
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Which isn’t what I’m saying and I totally agree with you.
I’m not even saying we should borrow money to buy a centre back. I’m saying we could quite comfortably do that but choose not to.
Debt repayments, especially those with little or nominal interest from the owners, are no different or more risky than structuring a deal with payments over a number of years like we have with Jota. Except with those, we have to pay as per the agreed structure. With owner loans, we can repay as and when like we have done previously.
If they don’t feel comfortable with borrowing for player purchases then so be it. They’ve got us this far running things the way they do.
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The problem isnt loans or capital in the bank or revenue stream, its no one can see the end of this Pandemic and therefore cannot assess the extent of the risk. We could lose a whole lower league if this runs into a third year.
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I honestly think the club is holding out on the league shutting down for a bit so then we might have VVD and Gomez back.
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Maybe, but we did buy Thiago and Jota in the summer and commit to a lot of future payments without knowing how long this may continue.
The point about missing out on the CL is an important one because this season would be a terrible one for us not to qualify with other revenue streams affected for who knows how long.
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The CL is an important point, but I think we will be alright on that. Buying Thiago and Jota only really strengthens the point. That money is gone, and whatever remains is less. The only thing that would dislodge the clubs current approach is if three or so rivals went on a spree. But this is unlikely, as they are up against the same problem.
My best guess is we grind it out. We are at a low point right now, for a number of reasons, covid, injuries and moving from Melwood have all turned us a bit shit. Good coaching should rectify that more than a downpayment on a new CB; even if I do like the look of Botman.
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Good coaching can only achieve so much. You can’t create what isn’t there you need something to build on. Fabinho nothing wrong there. Matip nothing wrong that coaching can fix. Phillips probably been taken as far as coaching can, Klopp has really over achieved here and a player who may have been destined for lower leagues may end up a Premier League player now but let’s be honest, should only be an emergency option only for us. Williams may improve with coaching but it’s going to take time, he’ll continue to play above what he should be able to and be useful but if he’s going to become a significant option it’ll be quite a couple of years down the road. We’ve got the best coaching team on the planet but we still need a CB. If Matip wasn’t so injury prone we maybe could get by but he is. And so much pressure and unrelenting game time is being lumped on Fabinho the chances of him picking up an injury are escalating. Henderson, Phillips and Williams may well he our CB options in a game against a United or City in the league or a knock out tie in the CL against a heavy hitter.
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I think the spending decision this January very much comes down to whether it is more important for the club to win the title this season or be able to compete for the title every season the net 5-10 years.
Klopp (and the owners) seem to take the long view. They will risk lowering our chance at winning the title this year in order to make sure we have the ability to compete year after year.
As much as I think we desperately need a CB to have a realistic change of retaining out title this year, I am much happier supporting a club that spends responsibly to make sure the future remains bright. We probably do need another CB at the end of the day even if Virgil and Gomez come back 100% in the summer, but who we would and could recruit changes a lot based on that expectation.
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Yep bring a proper CB on loan in, there must be enough money to do that or perhaps they could start crowdfunding. 
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Although there was talk of the council lending the blueshite money for the stadium, I don’t think it’s happened yet i.e. there isn’t a registered charge listed. Do you have any better details.
However, what we do know, from page 41 of the blueshite’s accounts:
That’s their cunning ruse; because the £300 million loan from Moshiri is interest free, and has an indeterminate repayment date it’s treated as equity, not debt. And as long as Moshiri is content to let them have the money, all will be well.
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Sorry don’t get this at all.
We need to sign a CB this winter or the summer so how would doing it stop us competing?
You know what could have a real negative impact? Not making top 4 this year and losing £50m revenue. Not challenging and doing everything possible to try and win the title this year showing our best players and targets that this is a club to be at to compete for titles.
Nobody is asking for reckless or ridiculous spending. But the title is ours for losing. We have a real, massive need to address an issue this winter which we are almost certainly already planning to address this summer anyway. Not acting will probably cost us more than acting.
It’s one player, probably for less than £30m possibly less than £20m who may be essential to secure us £50m in revenue that is balanced on a knife edge at the moment and to show players this is a club serious about competing and winning trophies. Any fantasies about Mbappe types coming are dead and buried if we aren’t seen as a serious competitive outfit. Talk of Salah and Mane types sticking around are over as they’ll do what the Torres and Suarez types have done in the past to win trophies.
It’s great we finally won the league and adding the CL was amazing but we have to keep competing for, challenging for and winning major honours. History and reputation are unforgiving. We slip out this extremely challenging top 4 this year it may take us years to get back to this. Do we have years? Many of our top stars are older now and Klopp will likely move on eventually.
All this for a deal 6 months early.
I don’t think we can afford to not act. We will have a list of targets. It’s not like VvD were there is one hands down 100% perfect option and nothing else will do this is like the forward search last summer were there were multiple options. We get the best available option over the line. No ifs or buts.
For the record that’s what I think is being attempted and will happen and most of the talk out the club is its usual negotiation through the press trick.
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You’re right, I’ve just seen this from last year
I don’t know if there’s anything more recent but it seems both sides were getting cold feet. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that leading figures involved in the authorisation of Liverpool development projects had just begun being investigated for fraud and bribery a few months earlier.
Nothing to see here.
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Could you provide this detail please? Whose this player available for less than £20mil which is currently on our list of targets for summer?
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All you guys going around in circles arguing about the defence are missing the point.
Klopp is signing Mbappé. We won’t need a defence.
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Nobody knows who is on our list of targets certainly not me. But for comparison Arsenal only paid about £23m this summer for a CB to a club now in financial difficulty which have the CB they bought as a replacement as a possible target. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we do pick up a CB for around £18/20m but certainly under £30m. But the point is we are almost certainly planning on buying for CB. All anyone is hoping for is the deal to be completed 6 months earlier when we will be at our most pressing need.
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Buying a CB now is a short term fix that likely requires paying a premium at a time when the club is in a potentially precarious financial position because of Covid.
If there is actually a reasonably priced option, I’d expect we will do it. Past years and Klopp’s comments suggest that is not very probable in reality. We have been following a plan of building slowly and only making signings we think will have long term value (in contributions and player value) to the club.
I get there is significant risk in not buying a CB this month as well, just think the club is making the decision more in terms of long term context.
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